Agencies: Bureau of Land
Management and U.S. Forest Service

As
reported in recent Case Digests, a 48-megawatt power plant
and associated wells, pipelines, and power lines are proposed to be
constructed at a site called Telephone Flat, near Medicine Lake in
Northern California.

The project
would substantially affect the traditional cultural values associated
with the Medicine Lake Traditional Cultural Property District. The
ACHP hosted a public meeting to hear citizens views on the
proposed project, and submitted comments opposing the project to
the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture.

In November 2002, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service
informed the ACHP that they approved the construction of the power plant
at Telephone Flat, despite the ACHPs objections to the project.

View of the Medicine Lake Highlands, CA (staff
photo)

The agencies set some conditions to minimize the projects adverse
effects on the surrounding Medicine Lake Highlands traditional cultural
property, including relocating the future power plants transmission
line.

For background information on this case, see the Fall
2002 Case Digest (use your browser's back button to return
to this issue).